Reloading Homebrew Inventory and Brining Cornish Hens

Now that things are settling down a bit, I’ve had a chance to get back to brewing and cooking.  First on the list was to get a couple homebrews going to restock my homebrew inventory (which was desperately low).  The first brew on the list was a re-brew of my Ruination IPA clone that I did last year (with a few updates from last year’s version).  The second brew is a Chipotle Ale, which is a recipe I saw online based off a loose clone of Rogue’s Chipotle Ale.  I packed both of these brews into one weekend, a couple weeks ago.

Big brewing supply order to cover me for a few batches, and then some.

The Stone Ruination clone that I brewed last year is one of my favorite brews that I have made, and is one of the ones that has gotten the most positive feedback from friends and family.  This beer demanded to be re-brewed.  After making a few tweeks to the recipe (essentially, turning up the IBUs a bit), I had a pretty successful brew day (aside from spilling a little bit of wort when I was transferring it into the carboy, which dropped the potential alcohol level of the brew).  After fermenting for about a week, I transferred it to a secondary fermenter and am going to dry hop it with a couple ounces of Centennial hops.  After tasting a sample from the fermenter last weekend, I remembered why I love this beer so much – the bitter punch from the first addition of hops, the aroma from the finishing hops, and the clean yeast profile – all the signs of a great IPA.  I am also planning on splitting the batch and bottling one half as the regular Ruination, and dry hopping the other half a second time with an ounce of Citra hops and putting it into a Party Pig.  I can’t wait until this one is ready to drink in a few weeks! 

Second on the list – Chipotle Ale.  I decided to do an all-grain half-batch on this one, because if I mess up and put too many chipotles in, I do not want to end up with five gallons of beer that is too spicy to drink.  It was also a good opportunity to do another all-grain batch in my new mash tun.  This beer brewed pretty similar to any other beer, except, I added in about four small, de-seeded, home-grown jalapenos that I roasted/smoked on the grill this summer and then froze.  After chilling the wort down, I added in most of the pieces of home-made chipotles right into the primary fermenter.  After taking a sample from this beer last weekend, I’m pretty excited about it.  The peppers did not seem overbearing at all.  They actually added a subtle smokey flavor to this malty amber.  This one should be going into bottles next weekend and be ready to drink in early- to mid-January. 

Chipotle Ale on the left and Ruination IPA clone on the right.  I can't wait until these are ready to drink!

In addition to brewing up these two new beers, I also kept busy that same weekend by bottling my Bulldog Brew and my second mead.  The Bulldog Brew came out great and is now carbonated and ready to drink, which helped replenish my beer supply.  This rye amber came out pretty close to what I was going for – a well balanced beer with a great malt character from the rye, crystal, and chocolate malts that were used in brewing this ale.  I am also planning on doing a label for this beer with a picture of my American Bulldog Abby, hopefully to come out soon.  :-)  I also bottled up my second small-batch mead, which tasted great from the sample that I took.  More to come on this mead in a few months, after it has conditioned a bit.

Sample of my second small-batch mead, made with local honey.

Taking a cue from Beer Advocate, I decided to make a beer inspired dinner last weekend with Cornish hens and Sierra Nevada Kellerweis.  The dish was inspired by a recipe for doing a beer brine with a turkey that was published in the November issue of Beer Advocate.  The original recipe called for brining a turkey in Allagash Tripel, tangerines, water, honey, salt, fennel, bay leaves, thyme, and a couple other spices for a couple days before baking it for Thanksgiving dinner.  I modified the recipe a bit for a smaller scale and for availability of ingredients, swapped out the Tripel for a few bottles of Kellerweis (I had a bunch of Kellerweis laying around at home) and swapped out the tangerines for oranges.  After brining the hens, I baked the two Cornish hens in a crock with chunks of potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onions in the bottom.  The resulting hens were delicious and moist.  Some stuffing and the veggies from the bottom of the pan rounded out the dish nicely.  This is definitely a dish I plan on making again.  Here are a couple pictures from the dish.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product (great move, John!) but you get the point.

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis - a fantastic hefeweizen to drink and to cook with.

The brine cooking up.

Cornish hens brining up before they got baked.

With the holidays upon us, I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone happy holidays!  I hope everyone has a great time with friends and family and enjoys some time off!  Raise a glass of craft beer to great friends, great family, and happiness during this holiday season!

Song of the Day: “Angels We Have Heard on High” by Bayside

Beer of the Day: Allagash Four

I'm Married!

As a lot of you already know, I got married on November 19^th!!!   I couldn’t be happier to be married to my beautiful wife Theresa!!!  She truly does make me happier than any other person ever could!

The festivities kicked off with the rehearsal at the church (Nativity BVM right in Media) and rehearsal dinner (at Iron Hill in Media) the night before the wedding.   It was really great to have some good quality time with our closest family and friends that helped get us to this point in our lives.  It really did mean a lot of have all of them involved, not only in the wedding, but in our lives in general.  For all of you those involved in the wedding, we really would not be the people we are today without you, so I want to give you all a huge thank you!  After a great celebration with all of those involved in the wedding itself, I headed back to the hotel to spend some time with the guys.  It was a lot of fun to see a lot of my buddies and family from out of town and have a few beers.  I don’t get many chances to see a lot of them, so it was really fun to spend some time with them.  It also helped to make up for some of the time we lost at the bachelor party because of Huricane Irene haha. 

The guys at the rehersal dinner (left to right): by buddy Zorro, by best man Tom, my brother Marty, my brother-in-law Harry, me, my brother Keith, my  buddy Matt, and my buddy Veggie.

The wedding day was a gorgeous autumn day and was perfect for a wedding.  Around 2pm, I found myself standing next to the priest in the beautiful church watching Theresa walk up the aisle to me.  I don’t think I’ve had butterflies in my stomach like that ever in my life! :-)  After a beautiful ceremony, we were married and couldn’t be happier!!!  After posing for a few pictures at the church, the party began in the limo on the way over to Penn Oaks for the rest of the pictures and the reception.  After doing all of the pictures, we were able to relax and have an amazing time at the reception with some of our closest friends and family.  And I can honestly say, I really don’t think I’ve ever danced so much, or had such a good time in my life!  It really was an incredible night!  Here are a few pictures from wedding day:

Theresa and I with Father Belle during the ceremony.

Theresa and I walking down the aisle as husband and wife!

Theresa and I dancing in the middle of the dance floor - this is pretty much where we were most of the night :-)

Oh, this happened a few times throughout the night.  Veggie and I just like to get down on the dance floor!

Thank you so much for all of you who were able to get us to this point in our lives!  Thank you to everyone who was able to share the big day with us, and thank you for your thoughts and prayers to those who were not able to make it to the wedding!

On the Monday after the wedding, Theresa and I flew out to San Francisco for our honeymoon.  Neither one of us had been out to the West Coast in our adult lives, and we had heard lots of great things about San Fran, so we decided to go out there for our honeymoon for ten nights (all those Marriot reward points from my consulting days really paid off).  After settling in to the hotel the first night, we set out to see the sights in the city the next couple days.  After hoping on and off tour buses and walking all over the city for two days, we had seen a lot of the main sightseeing attractions in the city itself, including the Golden Gate Bridge.  Next, we got to have a very non-traditional Thanksgiving by doing a Wine Tour of Sonoma and Nappa Valleys.  As it turned out, there were only three wineries open that day, and we got to see all of them – Jacuzzi (owned by the same family that invented the Jacuzzi hot tub), Cline Cellars, and Hagafen (a kosher winery).  We had a blast on the tour and our tour guide, Vladamir, was awesome!  In keeping with the non-traditional Thanksgiving theme, we had a great dinner in Chinatown. 

The next couple days after that were filled with exploring around Chinatown, Fisherman’s Wharf, and riding the cable cars.  We also had a chance to have some really good seafood at the Wharf.  If you ever find yourself around here, I definitely recommend getting clam or crab chowder in a sourdough bread bowl – its incredible!  To cap the weekend off, we did a really cool night tour of Alcatraz on Sunday.  It was a lot of fun to see this historic prison all light up at night (which was also a little creepy in places).  It also provided some of the coolest views of the city from the top of the island.

Monday brought a cool trip up to the ancient Redwoods in Muir Woods and the beautiful town Sausalito.  On Tuesday, we decided to get a little further outside of the city and rented a car to drive down the coast.  Although it was a very foggy day (which there are plenty of in San Fran), we were able to get South of most of the fog and get some absolutely incredible views of the Pacific coast.  I have never seen anything quite like it – the crashing waves against the cliffs really was breathtaking to see! 

On our last full day there, we did a brewery tour of the very famous and traditional brewery at Anchor Brewing Company.  It was really cool to tour the historic brewery and to see the equipment they use to keep with traditional brewing methods (including using open coolships as the primary fermenter for all of their beers).  For our last dinner in San Fran, we went out with a bang and went to an awesome Italian restaurant called Zingari (a big thanks to the Director of Operations at the JW Marriot who hooked us up with the reservation and a complimentary bottle of wine with dinner!).  After a long day of travel back home the next day, Theresa and I were both ready to be home and relax for a few days before returning to the work grind.

We went to some very cool places when we were in San Fran and I figure I should sum up some my favorite restaurants, breweries, and wineries that we had a chance to experience while we were there, in case you ever find yourself in San Fran looking for a solid place to go or drink to have.  Here they are in no particular order:

·         Zingari Restaurant – Probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had.  And I love steak.  The service and food were incredible.  The bruschetta we had as an appetizer was incredible, and both of our entrees (the filet and the seafood ravioli) were perfect.

·         Nick’s Lighthouse – A delicious casual seafood restaurant right on the Bay.  The oysters and the chowder were awesome.

·         Jacuzzi Winery – A really nice boutique winery in Sonoma Valley.  It is owned by the same family that invented the Jacuzzi hot tub and a bunch of other patents.  Since they produce smaller quantities and focus on quality, their wines are incredibly flavorful and aromatic.  I highly recommend the Merlot, the Nero D’Avola, and the dessert wine in a chocolate shot (not included in the tasting but definitely worth the $2).

·         Tropisueno  – An awesome authentic Mexican restaurant in San Fran.  Their carne asada and pollo asada were both incredible.  If you’re looking for a really good Mexican dinner and a restaurant with a really cool vibe, check this place out.  The margaritas are great too!

·         Franciscan Crab Restaurant – This place has some outstanding food and has a very nice atmosphere.  I highly recommend their tureens (which is kind of like a seafood stew in a tomato broth) and the sizzling seafood platter. 

·         The Stinking Rose – If you like garlic, eat at the Stinking Rose.  The whole menu and theme of the restaurant is shaped around it.  Their garlic humus is really good (hope you don’t mind garlic breath) and their Italian meatloaf and lasagna were incredible.

·         Anchor Brewing Company – A vacation wouldn’t be complete without a brewery tour, and Anchor Brewing is definitely a cool one to check out.  They use some different equipment (like coolships) than a lot of other breweries do because of their more traditional nature.  One of the other cool things about this brewery is the fact that it is their main production brewery so you get a chance to see pretty much every part of the process, including the bottling line.  While in San Fran, don’t just restrict yourself to their most popular beer, Anchor Steam (which is relatively easy to find in other parts of the country), and branch out to some of their beers that are less-widely distributed.  Make sure to check out their Liberty Ale and their seasonal (I liked their Christmas Ale a lot).

·         Speakeasy Ales and Lagers – A San Francisco brewery.  I had a chance to try a couple Speakeasy beers while out to dinner in San Fran – Prohibition Ale and Big Daddy IPA.  I particularly enjoyed Prohibition Ale.  Check these guys out if you get a chance.

Here are some pictures from San Fran:

Theresa and I at Jacuzzi Winery.  This place had some awesome wines!

Anchor Brewing Company had an awesome tasting room with all sorts of old beer signs and brewing memorbilia from, not only their company, but from a bunch of other old breweries from all over the country.

The jellyfish all lit up in their tank at the aquarium at the Academy of Sciences.  This place was really cool with an aquarium and a self-contained rain forest.

One of the butterflies in the rainforest section of the Academy of Sciences.

Me in front of one of the old walls on Alcatraz.



Alcatraz at night while we were approaching the dock on the ferry.  This was definitely one of the coolest things we did while in San Fran!



 

Desert wine in an edible chocolate shot glass at Jacuzzi Winery - well worth the extra $2!



Me in one of the ancient redwoods at Muir Woods.  I've never seen trees so tall and straight in my life!



The Golden Gate Bridge on one of the foggiest days we were there. 



This is one of the gorgeous views that we had when we were driving along the Pacific Coast.

Theresa and I on the Golden Gate Bridge.  This was on one of the beautiful afternoons that we were there.  The fog would usually clear off by the afternoon most days that we were there.

Well that about sums up the wedding and honeymoon, and now its back to reality (returning to work after being out for two weeks is not fun haha).  I am hoping to be updating this blog a lot more in the coming months and hopefully finally get around to posting some brewing recipes and other goodies up.  I have some brews coming up that I am very excited about and I am planning on brewing like crazy the next couple months (I desperately need to re-stock my supply of homebrew), but more on that in the next post.  Until next time, stay frosty.

Song of the Day: “Stand by Me” by Pennywise

Beer of the Day: Namaste from Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales